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Author
Topic: Doc, how long will i live? (for the newly diagnosed) (Read 13918 times)

I have never put that question to a doctor, but at the Clinic the information was volunteered that no doctor can speculate as to how long someone is going to live. My own GP here in the wilds of nowhere said that he saw no reason why I shouldn't live as much as ten years.

aelwyd, there is no guarantee that you will wake up in the morning, but if you are compliant with your medications there is no reason that you won’t live out your life and die of old age. Your doctor’s 10 years thought is way behind times. There are a lot of old farts on here like myself that have lived with HIV over 20 years.

When I was diagnosed in 1993 doctors told me 5-10 years. Then a year later an ID doctor told me to get my affairs in order. When 2003 rolled around and my counts had improved and my partner was doing well I was very optimistic that we were both going to live a normal lifespan. Now in 2008 my partner has had two different HIV-related cancers. Knowing that our metabolisms are out of whack I'm concerned that cancer, heart attack or stroke is going to take one or both of us before we reach retirement. The bottom line is you don't know: you could stroke out tomorrow or live to be 99. No doctor can tell you how long you are going to live.

What I'm talking about isn't "hit by a bus" scenarios. HIV and medications take a toll on the body.

"how long" was my first question to my PCP doctor. He said "almost normal". I didn't quite believe him so I searched Internet, came across the NIH paper of "on average, poz people live 20 some years after diagnosed, with modern medicine", so I will die around 60yo. My ID doctor told me the "normal lifespan" answer, so did most people on this board, now I am a firm believer that I will live a normal lifespan, with proper care.

But I'd just like to remind you that your doc does not have all the answers. Part of it is up to you, insofar as living a healthy lifestyle. And part of it is up to chance / luck / divine intervention.

I have always felt that the measure of life is its quality rather than its duration. What I have learned again since diagnosis is that it is not how many days I live that counts, but how fully I live each day. Thanks to some of you, I am still alive (for the time being, at any rate!) to remember that fact.

my gp said 10 years. bastard, it was the first time i met him after diagnosis. then, i went crazy and pulled up these fucked stats on a grip of websites. 26 years was an average that stuck in my head. AVERAGE - that word is such crap. anyhow, i came across some other sites that said normal life span. my id doc also said normal life span. the women live a lot longer than the men in my family. i believe i will retire and live the long life ive dreamed of - hopefully with some sex in it.

Wow! what a odd question... I've had so many doctors over the years... one of my first doctors stated I would probally be dead within 6 months to a year... well after several initial visits to his office he did not show up to the office for his appointments one day. This was extemely odd for this doctor ... come to find out he had a FATAL heart attack at the ripe old age of 50. So to the man who said I would live possibly a year at most... its now been 17 years... not all easy years but, 17 none the less... so far this year 3 of my friends have passed away 2 from heart attacks and one from an aneurysm all at the ripe old age of 47 and only one was hiv poz... So who knows when its your time its your time... I have stated to several of my hiv infection specialist... who has one of the shortest lifespans of a profession... of all professionals ... well guess... what, its doctors ... generally most doctors do not take care of themselves, its a stressfull job but, percentage wise the odds are against them.

So here I march on... alittle wiser, a little older and not as pretty as I was before the meds but, its remarkable... I'm still here...

DOC- Sir, I'm sorry to announce you that you are having a serious diseasePAT- How serious ?DOC- Very serious: More the time will go, more your health will decline. The death is certainPAT- What is it ??DOC- ..the life

Nobody can say how long he will live. But we are programmed to die.The things with HIV, is that it's a relatively slow progressing disease, and as such, can cause stress and sadness over a long period of time.If we can control our emotions, then HIV is maybe just like the life. Probably a bit shorter with, but with a common cause of death: cancer, stroke, hearth attack, etc..

Some doesn't have HIV, and discover that they are having let say a cancer with weeks to live.Others die just crossing the road. Compared to us, if we don't try to control our emotions, those people have worry for a shorter period of time, but will die for the same cause of us.Cause we will die, it's certain. We will have one day this cancer, heart attack or what ever.We know it.

So how about to live today and worry tomorrow ? As everybody. So the life can be live in its fullest ?How about then to forget the question ? And the answers ?

Easy to say. But does it make sens anyway to say: I have 30 years to live, if these 30 years are full of stress and sadness ?